A symposium on intellectual property and the role of the Detroit branch of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in supporting patent activity in Southeast Michigan will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at Lawrence Technological University (LTU), 21000 West 10 Mile Road in Southfield.
The free symposium for all industries, entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors will run from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes lunch. Online register is required by Friday, Sept. 27, at www.ltu.edu/ip-event.
Speakers and panelists include:
- Faris Almatrahi, USPTO supervisory patent examiner.
- Virinder Moudgil, president and CEO of LTU.
- David Cole, chairman of AutoHarvest, a non-profit dedicated to fostering innovation in the global auto industry.
- Paul Prestia, senior strategic advisor at RatnerPrestia, an intellectual property law firm.
The moderator will be Matt Roush, technology editor at WWJ Newsradio 950.
The symposium will cover collaborative intellectual property development strategies including IP mining. There will be an update on USPTO resources for inventors including the pro bono program mandated by the federal America Invents Act.
Participants will have the opportunity to discuss real-life stories of collaborative intellectual property development and also network with USPTO representatives, industry leaders, innovators and inventors, as well as university faculty and students.
“New intellectual property is the lifeblood of industry, and many LTU graduates have been involved in important breakthroughs,” Moudgil said. “We need to make a concerted effort to encourage the development of new ideas that will lead to consistent job growth in the region.”
This event is sponsored by RatnerPrestia, the Lawrence Tech Entrepreneurial Collaboratory, AutoHarvest and WWJ Newsradio 950.
Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 7 percent of universities for return on undergraduate tuition investment, and highest in the Detroit metropolitan area. Lawrence Tech is also listed in the top tier of Midwestern universities by U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review. Students benefit from small class sizes and experienced faculty who provide a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 102-acre campus include over 60 student clubs and organizations and a growing roster of NAIA varsity sports.